Obama: Sony “Made a Mistake” Stopping the Release of “The Interview”

On Friday, President Barack Obama called Sony’s decision to cancel the release of “The Interview” a “mistake.”

“We cannot have a society in which a dictator in some place can start imposing censorship in the United States,” he told reporters at his final press conference of the year. “Imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self-censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of someone who’s sensibilities probably need to be offended.”

“I wish they’d spoken to me first,” he added. “I would have told them: Do not get into the pattern in which you are intimidated.”

Earlier on Friday, the FBI officially linked the North Korean government to the cyber attack on Sony. In the press conference, Obama indicated the US government was considering how to respond.

When asked for specifics, he said, “We’ve been working up a range of options. They will be presented to me and I will make a decision based on what I think is proportional and appropriate to the nature of this crime.”